Utilities promote safe digging

Calling before digging can prevent injuries, fines and property damage

Tri-County Electric is reminding Missourians to always call before starting a digging project in order to avoid damaging utility lines and potentially causing injury or outages.

April marks the sixth annual National Safe Digging Month, with Missourians reminded to call 1-800-DIG-RITE or 811 or visiting www.mo1call.com before starting a digging project.

By calling and notifying officials of a dig project, utility workers can come out to the site and mark with flags, paint or both the location of any underground utility lines.

Nationwide, a utility line is damaged every three minutes with about one-third of those incidents caused by failure of homeowners or professional excavators to call before starting their project.

Missouri One Call highlighted projects like installing a mailbox, building a deck or planting a tree or garden as all examples of digging projects that should only begin days after calling or clicking for more information.